A slight miscalculation.

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Files, we thought, you know the ones, in manilla folders, full of A4 sheets of paper, take up a lot of room. So I convinced Pommygran8 who owns the said files, that it was time to buy a scanner and scan them to a nice big hard drive and shred the files. So we started a couple of days ago. Little did I know that shredded files expand, and expand, and expand. I know now. Having filled to overflowing one full size recycling bin, we still have bags and bags and bags of shreds. And we have only managed a quarter of the task.

And the winner is....!

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Four hours later and who'd have thought.

Make room, make room!

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Today I have decided to bite the bullet and attempt the impossible and get both cars into the garage. Parking in the street is impossible as there are so many restrictions, and because we have 'two' car spaces we don't qualify for a resident's parking sticker. Parking in the visitors' spots seems to arouse the ire of the neighbours, so here we go. This is what it looks like now. Wish us luck

Life's little mysteries

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Pommygran8 and I enjoy the walk for coffee every morning and has become quite a ritual now. On the way we pass the local Salvo's store which we must have a look around. That's where a lot of the costumes for the Bash are found and altered. I enjoy reading and there are definite bargains to be had there for books, if you have the patience to search through, as they are never categorized . It was a surprise therefore to see that out of the entropy, some sort of order had been established. Here is the photograph. I suppose it makes it easier to find a book to match your outfit. I believe the manager is considering selling the new system to the library. It would certainly brighten things up a little.



Another mystery is the appearance of pairs of runners thrown over the power lines on the corner of the street. Today there were three pairs. If anyone knows the significance of this I would love to know.

The Liberty Swing in Action

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I have just put together this clip which I took at the recent Variety Children's Party. I hope you like it as much as I do. Just seeing the smiles on the faces of these special children is so heart-warming.

Variety Christmas Party

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Yesterday I helped with the annual Variety Children's Christmas Party at the Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour in Sydney. There Were over 5,000 disabled and disadvantaged children and there carers there. It always is an emotional time, seeing wheelchair-bound children with huge grins on their faces. One of the highlights for me were the wheelchair swings where children and their wheelchairs can experience what we take for granted, the sensation of swinging. This is another example of what can be done when people think about access, inclusion and safety.

The Tables Are Turned

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As a GP for 35 years, I spent a lot of time behind a desk. Today it was my turn for the other side. After feeling unwell for a couple of days, I developed some pains in the chest. As a GP, I would advise anyone with pains in the chest to seek advice immediately. I chose to ignore them. However when I mentioned them to Pommygran8 over coffee, she took me straight to the GP. Luckily, I was seen straight away, (Pommygran8 hates waiting). Examination was normal, ECG normal. I sent Pommygran8 home, thinking I would be following soon. Wrong. GP phoned cardiologist, who recommended CT angiogram. I walked across the road to the radiologist who knew I was coming. After a short wait I was having my coronary angiogram. Warning, do not distract the radiographer as she is putting a cannula in your arm. Second try it was in and the scan was over.
Waiting at home for the results, Pommygran8 was more impatient than I.
Finally the results came through and were all clear. No blockage, arteries in pretty good shape. So now no excuses to stop cooking.
The standard of service was excellent. I have no complaints.

Together For Humanity

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Last week, we attended a meeting for Together For Humanity, which is an Australian venture. The idea is for people of different faiths, to go to schools and show that people can accept and respect other faiths without compromising their own. We met Rabbi Zalman Kastel, who is the National Director, Haisam Farache, a muslim Sheikh from Lakemba Mosque, and Mohamed Dukuly, a muslim from war-torn Liberia. We videoed a short interview with each one and I was greatly encouraged by these wonderful people. Here are the videos.

UKTV and K9

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Yesterday we went to the headquarters of UKTV, the principal sponsors of Bash Car K9, to show off our trophies and to thank them for their support.
I was asked what I do with the car between Bashes. The answer to that is easy. We work on it to get it ready for the next one. At the moment, we are reconditioning a gearbox so that we can get it into third gear without it crunching embarrassingly. Not much else needs doing except all the things we say we are going to do next year, but never get round to it.

A new president

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Forty eight years ago (and yes, I can remember that far back; it's only where I put my keys or glasses or spanner, 2 minutes ago that I forget) John F Kennedy was elected president of the USA. All the hopes and dreams of the world centred on this young charismatic man. It is the same feeling of euphoria now, that the rest of the world, who had hoped and prayed that the American people would get it right this time, (after all they elected George Bush twice), experiences.
History unfortunately has a habit of repeating itself. I can only hope that people have learned from the past and President-elect Obama will be able to fulfil his promise. Things don't look promising. Lewis Hamilton is the youngest person to win the Formula 1 world championship. He also has been subject to racist taunts and abuse because of the colour of his skin. Until we can all accept difference and embrace it, I fear that once again, we are heading for another tragedy.

Full of Gas

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A weekend of drama at Everapominoz's place. For a few weeks we had noticed some water leaking around the base of the water meter by the front gate. The appropriate people were informed and on Friday Pommygran8 and I went for our usual coffee. When we returned, the street had been cordoned off, and we were unable to go back into the house. There happened to be a loud hissing noise and a geyser of gas rising from our front garden. The plumbers digging around the water meter had ruptured the gas main supply.

So now we have a hole in the front garden, with some gas bubbling through the water which is still leaking. At least we have a temporary gas supply (see the pictures), so we (or rather I) can still cook.

Cooking gefilte fish

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I have always enjoyed cooking and since I have retired, I have taken up the cooking duties of the household. One of many traditional Jewish dishes is gefilte fish balls. I never knew how to make them until a colleague at work, big Kev, gave me a recipe which is impossible to spoil. Pommygran8 made a couple of videos of me cooking both boiled and fried gefilte fish and here they are.

Priscilla, the stage show

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Pommygran8 and I went to see Priscilla at Star City last night. What a wonderful show. The costumes were absolutely breathtaking and the music was fantastic. I strongly recommend it.

Talking of costumes, I have some more pictures of the costumes we wore on the recent Bash.

Sculptures By the Sea

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On Friday I went to Access Innovation Media HQ to learn how to caption my own videos. It seemed straightforward enough so I came home with the freeware program and a foot pedal to assist transcribing the video.

At the weekend, Pommygran8 and I went to look at the Sculptures by the Sea between Tamarama and Bondi Beach. I took many stills and some video, so I decided to load the software to caption the footage.

After 2 frustrating hours, I finally managed to get the foot pedal working. Then I started on the software package. It would get so far then ask me to find more files. Then when I did that, it couldn't open them. Many, many hours later, after installing, and uninstalling the program about half a dozen times, suddenly, it worked. I have no idea why. Perhaps it took sympathy for me, or more likely, I scared it with my screaming obscenities at it. Breathing on it didn't work.

So all I have to do now is upload the file to You Tube, which at the moment is undergoing maintenance. (Breathe and relax). So watch this space for my first clip.